Dave Mustaine says Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ riff stolen from unknown LA band
Dave Mustaine, Metallica’s ex-guitarist, has accused the band of stealing the riff to fan favourite track ‘Enter Sandman’ from another band.
According to Mustaine, Metallica lifted the riff from the crossover thrash group, Excel. The song allegedly copied in ‘Enter Sandman’ is their 1989 track ‘Tapping Into The Emotional Void’. The similarities are not immediately apparent, but parallels between the tracks can be noted from the beginning.
This is not a new claim from Mustaine. He shared knowledge of the similarities almost 20 years ago. Consequence have also highlighted that members of Excel were considering taking legal action against Metallica in 2003 for the copied riff. Their legal rebuttal never came to fruition.
In the same interview, Mustaine accused Metallica of stealing some of his own riffs, and never giving due credit. He alleges that Metallica tracks such as ‘Ride The Lightning’, ‘The Call Of Ktulu’, ‘Phantom Lord’, ‘Metal Militia’, ‘Jump In The Fire’, and ‘The Four Horsemen’ all contain his uncredited riffs.
Guitarist Kirk Hammett replaced Mustaine in 1983, and has been a member ever since. The Megadeth co-founder acknowledged this in the interview, sharing, “I wrote a lot of their music that made them, and all the solos on that first record were mine – the best Kirk could do was try and copy them.”
Metallica have recently announced a UK and European tour. The run of dates is set to begin on May 9th in Athens at the Olympic Stadium. Metallica will then head to Bucharest, Romania on May 13th before performing at Stadion Śląski in Chorzów, Poland on May 19th.
They will also perform in Frankfurt and Budapest, the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, and the London Stadium in the English capital. Metallica’s UK tour will also include visits to Hampden Park in Glasgow and the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
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